Russia will not impose sanctions on Ukraine if the latter signs the economic section of the Association Agreement with the EU, Russian Foreign Minister notes

ST. PETERSBURG, June 10. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia, Germany and Poland are convinced that it is necessary to end all violence in Ukraine and start a dialogue, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a trilateral meeting with his German and Polish counterparts - Frank Walter Steinmeier and Radoslaw Sikorski.

“We paid much time to discussing the Ukraine crisis. We are convinced that despite various interpretation of the events, it is necessary to focus on ending the bloodshed and starting a dialogue with participation of all (Ukrainian) regions,” Lavrov stressed.

Russia is ready to support the steps of Ukraine’s new leadership aimed at persuading Ukrainians to sit down to talks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We support the agreements fixed in the Geneva statement and the OSCE roadmap. We hope that Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko who proclaimed the task of ending the conflict and finding a way out of the crisis is going to act in this direction,” Lavrov said.

He pledged Russia’s support for these steps aimed at bringing Ukrainians at the negotiating table and reaching an agreement with each other.

Russia will not impose sanctions on Ukraine if the latter signs the economic section of the Association Agreement with the EU, Russian Foreign Minister noted.

There are no contraindications against the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the EU but the Ukrainians should make their choice independently, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“There are no contraindications as regards this process,” he said. “We can’t forbid anyone to develop cooperation with those organizations.”

“The problem is Ukrainians should make their choice independently,” Lavrov said. “They should decide on their own whether or not they will sign the AA.

Lavrov noted also that Poroshenko's proposal for humanitarian corridors was a step in right direction. He hopes Poroshenko's proposals for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine to be supported by real reaction. The Russian foreign minister also called the attention of international organizations to the growing influx of refugees from the war-stricken regions.